Somehow my favorite song as a child came up during a conversation yesterday, and so I listened to it again. It’s “Teddy Bears’ Picnic,” whose tune was written in 1907 (by John Bratton) with the immortal words added in 1932 by Jimmy Kennedy. There are many versions on YouTube, including one by Bing Crosby (!), but the one I listened to incessantly as a kid was Rosemary Clooney’s version, here:

I would play it for hours on the 45 rpm version (a “single”) on my tiny record player, and march around the room with my teddy bear, Toasty. I still remember the words after nearly 60 years.

You can see Toasty below. He is exactly as old as I am, having been given to me the day I was born. He’s worn out, lost most of his fur, has had multiple eye replacements, and had his head ripped off (it’s sewn on with obvious stitches, so he looks like Frankenstein). And he has a pair of overalls, made by my mom, to cover his shameful nudity.

His pal, Tiger, to the right, is a Steiff toy that I was given at about age six. Tiger, too, is decrepit, but is in better shape than Toasty. He’s had a horrible eye replacement (see photo), and his squeak box doesn’t work any more.  I used to play “Superhero Bear’ with Toasty wearing a cape and riding around on Tiger righting injustices throughout the world.

Toasty and Tiger are always with me in my office, safely ensconced in a bookcase.

I’m not the only aged scientist with an original teddy. As you may remember, Steve Pinker still has his childhood bear Wilfred, whose name was the subject of a contest on this site in 2010.

If you still have your teddy, send me a photo, and I may feature it here.